Senate All but Kills Chances for Amnesty Extension

The Senate Thursday virtually wiped out any chance that the May 4 amnesty deadline for illegal aliens will be extended.

In a procedural vote, senators voted 56 to 40 against limiting debate by opponents of a House-passed bill to extend to Nov. 30 the deadline for applying for legal residency. Some opponents of the extension had threatened to filibuster the measure.

Following the vote, Sen. Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.), co-author of the 1986 immigration law containing the amnesty program, said the Senate had just “sent a signal” that the one-year legalization program will end at midnight on Wednesday, as scheduled.

The Senate will be in recess next week, so there seems no chance to get an extension approved before the program expires.

After the lopsided vote, Charles Kamasaki of the National Council of La Raza, leader of the battle for an extension, said: “We just went down. The bill is dead. There will be no attempt to revive it.”

Kamasaki blamed the bill’s defeat on Senate leaders, saying they had not been aggressive in pushing the legislation. He called on the Immigration and Naturalization Service to “reach out to the thousands” of illegal immigrants by stepping up public education efforts to convince them to apply.

The legalization program is open to people who have lived illegally in this country since before 1982, except for brief absences.

Applicant Shortfall

Supporters of an extension have argued that the INS had failed until recently to fully inform the public about the program, resulting in a shortfall of applicants. The INS denied this and opposed the extension as simply an encouragement to procrastinators.

In debate before the procedural vote, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), arguing for the extension, said: “Congress enacted the amnesty program in good faith, and we should not implement it in bad faith. The simple truth is the May 4 deadline has turned out to be too short and too harsh.”

But Simpson said: “This is it. And if you want to live the dream, here’s your chance. And you do it by midnight May 4, and that’s it.